Chord Backing Track Maker_
How to write chords
| Am | F | C G | G7 |Bar lines: one bar each; two chords in a bar split it
C / / / | G / Am /Each / or . is one more beat of the chord before it
Am F C GNo bar lines: every chord lasts the chord length (default 1 bar)
[Am]Words [F]under [C]chordsChordPro — chords in square brackets inside the lyrics
[Chorus] Verse 2: Intro:Section names; a name on its own again repeats that section
| G | D | x2Repeat a line (or write [Chorus x2] to repeat a section)
% N.C.% repeats the previous bar, N.C. means no chord (drums only)
C/E Bb F#m7b5 Gsus4Slash chords, flats, sharps and extensions all work
{tempo: 90} {style: reggae}Optional: set the tempo and style from the sheet
Guide — from chord sheet to band in a minute
Straight from a chord website, a ChordPro file or your own notes. The format is detected for you. No sheet yet? Pick one from Load an example…
Tap one of the fourteen styles or press 1–9, then set the tempo with ↑ ↓ or Tap.
One bar of count-in, then guitar, keys, bass and drums follow every chord. The stage shows the big chord, the next one and the lyric line.
Press ⟲ loop next to a section, or click one bar and Shift-click another to loop exactly those bars.
Share copies a link with the whole song. WAV downloads the backing track, or only your loop, as an audio file.
What is in here
Three formats are recognised and you can mix them in one sheet. Lyrics stay visible under the chords and show up on the stage while the song plays.
- Over lyrics
- Chords on a line above the words, like most chord sites
- ChordPro
[Am]Words [F]under [C]chords- Bar chart
| Am | F | C G | G7 |- Directives
{tempo: 90}{style: reggae}{time: 3/4}
Bar lines give exact timing. Without them, every chord lasts the Chord length you choose in the Song panel, one bar by default.
| … |- One bar; two chords inside a bar split it
/or.- One more beat of the chord before it
%- Repeat the previous bar
N.C.- No chord, only the drums play
- Chord length
- ½, 1, 2 or 4 bars
There is no limit on chords or sections. Slash chords, flats, sharps and extensions all work, and the band plays a fill and a crash at each section change.
- Names
[Chorus],Verse 2:,Intro:- Repeat
- An empty section name plays that earlier section again
x2- After a line, or
[Chorus x2]for a section - Chords
C/E,Bb,F#m7b5,Gsus4
Each style picks a fitting line-up. Override any part in the Band panel, set its volume, or mute it and play that part yourself.
- Guitar
- Acoustic, nylon, electric clean, jazz electric, electric crunch
- Keys
- Piano, electric piano, organ, strings
- Bass
- Electric, upright, synth, sub
- Chords
- Rich or simple voicings, or auto per style
- Fills
- At section ends, every 8 or 4 bars, or off
Move the song to your key, slow it down, loop a few bars and add a click. Transpose rewrites the chords in the sheet itself.
- − =
- Transpose down or up a semitone
- Tempo
- 40 to 240 BPM, ↑ ↓ for ±2
- T
- Tap tempo
- Click
- A metronome track with its own volume
- Count-in
- One bar of sticks before the band starts
The stage shows the current chord large, the next chord, the section, the bar number and a beat counter. Go fullscreen to read it from across the room.
- F
- Fullscreen stage view
- ← →
- Previous or next bar
- Shift ← →
- Previous or next section
- Double-click
- Edit a chord straight in the chart
A free backing track generator for any chord sheet
The Chord Backing Track Maker turns the chords of a song into a band you can play along with. Paste a chord sheet, pick a style and press play: guitar, keys, bass and drums follow every chord change. It is for singers who want to practise with more than a strumming video, for guitarists and keyboard players learning a song, and for anyone who wants a jam track for soloing. It runs in your browser, is free and needs no account.
Unlike four-chord loopers, the chart can be as long as the real song: intros, verses, choruses, bridges, repeats, slash chords and bars with no chord at all.
How to make a backing track from chords
Copy the chords of your song from a chord website, a ChordPro file or your own notes and paste them into the chord sheet. Choose a style and a tempo and press play or Space. After a bar of count-in the band starts, adds a fill at the end of each section and hits a crash when the next one begins. If a chord is wrong, edit the text or double-click the chord in the chart.
Which chord formats you can paste
- Chords over lyrics, the layout most chord websites use. Each chord lasts the Chord length (one bar by default). If a song changes chords faster, set it to ½ bar or add bar lines.
- ChordPro, with chords in square brackets inside the lyrics, like
[Am]words. - Bar charts like
| Am | F | C G | G7 |. Every bar line is one bar and two chords in a bar split it. Each/or.adds one beat, soC / / / G / / /is a bar of C and a bar of G.
Section names like [Chorus] or Verse 2: are recognised. To repeat a chorus without typing it again, write its name on its own line: an empty section with the same name as an earlier one plays that section's chords again. Add x2 to a line or a section name to repeat it. The optional ChordPro-style lines {tempo: 90}, {style: reggae} and {time: 3/4} set the tempo, style or metre from the sheet, which is handy if you keep your songs as text files.
Fourteen styles
Each style has its own drum pattern, bass line, strumming or comping pattern and a starting tempo. Keys 1–9 pick the first nine.
Practise singing or an instrument
For singing, transpose the song until the melody sits well in your range, pick a quieter style like Ballad or Acoustic, and read the lyric line and the next chord from the stage view. Switch on the click for the first few runs if you tend to rush. For a solo or a tricky part, loop the section, drop the tempo 10 to 20 BPM and build it back up. Mute the guitar or the keys to play that part yourself.
Recorded guitars and piano
The acoustic, nylon and electric guitars, the grand piano and the electric bass are short recordings of real instruments, one per note, played back at the right pitch. Each strum plays the strings of a real guitar chord shape one after the other, down or up. Only the notes a song needs are downloaded. If the recordings cannot load, the app falls back to its built-in modelled guitar and piano.
The Chords setting changes the voicings. Rich adds colour notes like 9ths and two-handed piano, a double-tracked second guitar in some styles, and a soft string pad under styles like pop and ballad. Simple plays plain triads and sevenths, which suits rock, country and blues. Auto picks what fits the style.
Share a song or save the backing track
Share copies a link that holds the whole chord sheet with its style, tempo and sounds, so whoever opens it hears the same song. WAV renders the backing track, or only the bars you are looping, as an audio file you can play on your phone or import into a DAW.
Nothing is uploaded
The sheet is parsed and the band is mixed in your browser with the Web Audio API. The share link carries the song inside the link itself, and your last song and settings are remembered only in your browser's local storage. It is free, with no account.
Keyboard shortcuts
Space play and stop · Home back to the start · ← → previous or next bar · Shift + ← → previous or next section · ↑ ↓ tempo ±2 BPM · T tap tempo · L loop on or off · F fullscreen stage · − = transpose · 1–9 pick a style. Shortcuts pause while you type in the chord sheet; click outside it or press Esc to use them again.
More music tools
Build a song around four chords on the chord pad with drums, print a chart with the chord chart generator, slow down a recording in the song practice player, or keep time with the online metronome. Tune up first with the guitar tuner, and find drum grooves in the drum pad looper or layer your own parts with the live loop pedal.